Hearts have agreed a pre-contract deal to sign the Championship's top scorer Josh McPake from St. Johnstone
The former Liverpool, West Ham and Sunderland striker says the Celtic board believed they only had to finish above Rangers to win the league.
Former Scotland striker Don Hutchison says he hopes Hearts win the Scottish Premiership title this season and put Celtic and Rangers to shame.
The English Premier League icon, who played for many of the biggest clubs south of the border including Liverpool and West Ham to name just a few, is remembered fondly by the Tartan Army for his goals against Germany and England both in 1-0 away wins for Scotland in 1999.
Although he never played in Scottish league, Hutchison appears to have been keeping an eye on the top flight this season and is far from impressed with what he is seeing in Glasgow. The 54-year old has accused Celtic, and their board, of overlooking Hearts and believing they would only need to better Rangers to retain their title.
“I hope that Hearts win the league and put both of them (Celtic and Rangers) to shame this season” - Don Hutchison
Hutchison was directly asked in an interview, supplied by oddsboom, if he felt Celtic’s start under Wilfred Nancy would open the door for Rangers to finish above them in the league. He certainly pulled now punches in his response.
He said: “Maybe. Right now, the standard of Scottish football is terrible. This is the reason why I think Celtic fans are having a pop at their board. It's almost like the Celtic board just thought, right, as long as we finish above Rangers, we'll win the league. That's been their mentality forever.
“Rangers are going through a really bad spate of form, managers, signings. The club's at an all-time low and they forgot about Hearts, who are now sitting top.
“For Celtic, that's a terrible outlook to have and it's pretty shameful to have that outlook. It's quite disrespectful to the Celtic fans, thinking we don't really need to spend, we haven't got to spend loads of money on top-class players because we'll just finish above our rivals.
“That drags Celtic down, it drags Rangers down. I hope that Hearts win the league and put both of them to shame this season.”
Celtic’s dreadful start under Nancy presents massive opportunity for Hearts to keep up title challenge
The 26 times capped former Liverpool forward also believes the appointment of Wilfred Nancy by Celtic feels exactly the same as previous Rangers boss Russell Martin. Having lasted just four months at Ibrox, Martin was relieved of his duties and replaced by Danny Rohl earlier this season.
“He's got some job to turn it around,” said Hutchison on Nancy at Celtic. “He's got to convince the Celtic fans that he's the man. It feels exactly like Russell Martin at Rangers.
“I don't think it's even his fault at this point because I'm not sure who can turn up and do that job. You kind of almost shouldn't take it unless you take it in January. But again though, the feel-good factor under Martin O' Neill was there.
“Why wouldn't you leave Martin O’ Neill in the job for the Cup Final and let him go out on a high anyway? I know he’s a legend anyway, but it doesn’t make sense. It would have been brilliant for Martin.”
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